Phil also alluded to his relationship with former co-host Holly Willoughby

Former This Morning host Phillip Schofield says he was sacked by ITV because of the bad publicity caused by his paedophile brother’s crimes.

That contradicts the narrative created around the time of his departure in May last year, which suggested he had resigned after confessing to a fling with a younger runner.

Phillip was talking in his Cast Away documentary, which starts tonight on Channel 5, and sees him bare his soul while isolated on a desert island.

He said: “I was becoming more of a story than the programme. And I agreed to say that I resigned because it would be neater for everybody. I was fired for the bad publicity for someone else’s crime.”

It was always believed Phillip had to leave because he had not confessed earlier about his affair with the runner.

In the last of the three-parter, on Wednesday, he says: “I blew my own wheels off with everything else because I thought the only way to even begin to put this right for everybody is to do a full mea culpa.

“I came clean about my affair. What people don’t realise is I wasn’t fired from This Morning when I admitted lying… it was before, because of someone I used to call brother.”

He also appeared to hit out at certain colleagues on This Morning who claimed they hadn’t been kept in the loop about the fact Tim Schofield was facing sexual offence charges against a teenage boy in 2023.

Phillip said: “I was always open and honest with everyone at work about what was happening with my brother.”

Potentially alluding to his former co-host Holly Willoughby, he said: “There are people that you hoped would be around and then they’re not.”